Dendrobium Pixie Princess

[Hedge]

It's gorgeous, Ethan, I love it!!

[WhiteRabbit]

WOW! love the colors, and such a display of blooms! good growing

[Ethan]

Originally Posted by quiltergal

I've got one of these. It's currently pouting from it's last repot. It did put on quite a display the last time it bloomed and the flowers lasted forever. Hopefully one of these days it will get happy again and re-bloom for me. Mine is from Kalapana, got it at Lowes.

Mine also came from Kalapana, Teri! I got it at the local garden center...Mine also pouted after re-potting...they do seem to be very sensitive to re-potting, but make up for it after a while!

[RosieC]

Wow, another gorgeous Den. You have such great looking Dens Ethan!

[Ethan]

Originally Posted by RosieC

Wow, another gorgeous Den. You have such great looking Dens Ethan!

Thank you so much, Rosie...that's so nice of you...

[grasshopper]

That is simply stunning! I must have one. Have already clicked on the Kalapana link from a previous post (thank you Becca!).

And I must say that I am jealous of those of you who shop at Lowes and can find these amazing plants. My Lowes apparently lacks creativity because all I see when I go in are phals and dends with no tags, and thus no names. And none of them ever have colorful blooms like this one!

[catwalker808]

Just a little background on this plant. The parents of this hybrid are Den Pixie Nani x Den canaliculatum. There are two forms of the Australian species Den canaliculatum. There is a very tiny tan & brown flowered form, with 1” pbulbs & sets of 1” terete leaves. The flowers are about ½” NS. The other white & yellow flowered, purple-lipped form is still nearly a miniature, but with pbulbs about 3-4” tall, with sets of 3” leaves & flowers with 1” NS.

Both forms have numerous, relatively long spikes with many long lasting flowers. Both forms do best mounted & bloom during early spring.

The hybrid was originally made in the early 1980’s, by Mr. Francis Aisaka of Honolulu, an old time hybridizer & backyard grower. He used the larger yellow form of Den canaliculatum as the pollen parent. We purchased a few CPs from him & received an AM/AOS on a very nice first bloom. Mr. Aisaka kindly gave us permission to register the hybrid & we named our plant Den. Pixie Princess ‘H&R’ AM/AOS. We initially cloned 5000 plants. However, in the past 25 years, the plant has been recloned many times by many people & probably a million or two plants have been made. As mass merchandizers are wont to do, they have simplified the plant name, because they don’t really care … although they have kept the Pixie Princess part, I suppose, because it is a nice name.

Besides having such beautiful flowers, the plant has a very good blooming habit. Although the parent species, Den canaliculatum, is a very seasonal once a year spring bloomer, the hybrid is capable of blooming often. One year, the original plant that we cloned bloomed 4 times, and bloomed a fifth time a few weeks after the year ended.

Having read this, you’re all ready to go out & buy a plant. Unfortunately, we don’t have any clones available at this time ... but I’m sure someone else does.

[Ethan]

Originally Posted by catwalker808

Just a little background on this plant. The parents of this hybrid are Den Pixie Nani x Den canaliculatum. There are two forms of the Australian species Den canaliculatum. There is a very tiny tan & brown flowered form, with 1” pbulbs & sets of 1” terete leaves. The flowers are about ½” NS. The other white & yellow flowered, purple-lipped form is still nearly a miniature, but with pbulbs about 3-4” tall, with sets of 3” leaves & flowers with 1” NS.

Both forms have numerous, relatively long spikes with many long lasting flowers. Both forms do best mounted & bloom during early spring.

The hybrid was originally made in the early 1980’s, by Mr. Francis Aisaka of Honolulu, an old time hybridizer & backyard grower. He used the larger yellow form of Den canaliculatum as the pollen parent. We purchased a few CPs from him & received an AM/AOS on a very nice first bloom. Mr. Aisaka kindly gave us permission to register the hybrid & we named our plant Den. Pixie Princess ‘H&R’ AM/AOS. We initially cloned 5000 plants. However, in the past 25 years, the plant has been recloned many times by many people & probably a million or two plants have been made. As mass merchandizers are wont to do, they have simplified the plant name, because they don’t really care … although they have kept the Pixie Princess part, I suppose, because it is a nice name.

Besides having such beautiful flowers, the plant has a very good blooming habit. Although the parent species, Den canaliculatum, is a very seasonal once a year spring bloomer, the hybrid is capable of blooming often. One year, the original plant that we cloned bloomed 4 times, and bloomed a fifth time a few weeks after the year ended.

Having read this, you’re all ready to go out & buy a plant. Unfortunately, we don’t have any clones available at this time ... but I’m sure someone else does.

Hi, Catwalker. Thanks so much for the background on this amazing den! It's so neat to hear about it's history and to think you are the one that registered it's name...it's just a shame that the 'original name' has been lost. Do you still have any of your original clones? I can only imagine how beautiful they must be if you do - I've seen photos of some very impressive specimen plants in bloom!

[catwalker808]

Since we had a provisional award (pending registration, we asked the hybridizer for permission to register it. We also knew that the clone definitely had great commercial value, so we wanted a good name.

However, all we did was register the cross (with permission). Mr. Aisaka deserves the credit for having the insight & willingness to hybridize for smaller flowers on a smaller plant, at a time when most hybridizers were trying for bigger sizes & bolder colors. And he created a beautiful hybrid which has become famous in many countries over the years.

[krystle]

very pretty i must say, love the colors!